The Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) sit alongside FOISA, and govern access to environmental information held by Scottish public authorities. The EIRs require every Scottish public authority to publish environmental information and make it available on request.

The EIRs are separate from FOISA however, the rights provided by the EIRs are similar to those under FOISA.

What is environmental information?

"Environmental information" covers a broad range of topics, such as:

The environment itself, including air, water, earth, and the habitats of animals and plants.

• Other things that affect the environment, such as emissions, radiation, noise and other forms of pollution
• Policies, plans and laws on the environment.

Examples of environmental information covered by the EIRs include:

• Levels of chlorine in swimming pools
• Water and air-quality test reports
• Air conditioning systems in public buildings

 

The Regulations are governed by the Scottish Information Commissioner, who is also responsible for the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

 

Making a Request

If the information you want is about the environment, Edinburgh Leisure will respond under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (“EIRs”).

Requesting information is simple - all you have to do is ask.

An EIRs request can be made either in writing or verbally. You don't have to mention EIRs (although you can), nor do you have to give any reasons for asking or say why you want the information. You don't even have to live in Scotland.

Before submitting a request, you should check our website, our Publication Scheme, or try visiting our Information Hub first, as we have a large amount of information about our products and services there.

When submitting a request, please:

• state your full name (i.e., your e-mail address will not be sufficient to provide your full name).
• state a contact address - this can be a postal or email address
• describe the information you want
• State the format in which you would wish to receive the information

You can add other contact information such as a telephone number. It can help speed up the response so we can get in touch with you quickly to check a point.

To request information, you can:

Email us

foi@edinburghleisure.co.uk

Write to:

Information Compliance Section
Head Office
Meadowbank Sports Centre
London Road
Edinburgh
EH7 6AE

Use our online form

Submit a Request by clicking on the link below and selecting Freedom of Information/Subject Access Request Form on the Enquiry Request dropdown.

Submit Request

Call Us

You can also make a verbal request for environmental information under the EIRs by calling our Customer Service Team on 0131 458 2100

When submitting a request, please provide your full name in the body of any correspondence (i.e., your e-mail address will not be sufficient to provide your full name). The request should:

• Describe the information requested.
• State an address for correspondence.
• Preferably provide a contact number (in case we need to contact you to clarify the information requested).
• State the format in which you would wish to receive the information.

 Edinburgh Leisure wishes to assist applicants and therefore we may contact you to clarify the exact nature of the information requested or to discuss the format of the information with you.

Our staff who are responsible for this scheme would be happy to assist you if you wish to contact them with any requests.

You can find out more about your right to access information at the Scottish Information Commissioner website.

Charges

In responding to requests for information under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRS), we are entitled to charge a reasonable amount towards making the information available. This includes information which may have been requested under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA).

The costs for EIRS requests are based on estimated costs of staff time to locate and retrieve information, plus any costs associated with putting the information into a particular format, copying and postage costs. 

We do not charge for the time taken to decide if we hold the information requested, or the time it takes to decide whether the information can be released. Charges may be made for locating, retrieving, and providing information to you.

Further information on charges is available in our 

Information Charging Guide 2023

 

If we can't give you the information

Our aim is to provide information whenever possible. If we don't hold the information or believe there is a good reason to withhold it, we will explain why in our response.

 There are several exemptions and exceptions under FOISA and EIRs which define when we can refuse to issue information to you.

This includes:

• information about yourself (this should be requested under Data Protection legislation). Please see our Data Protection webpage for how to make a request)
• information about other individuals - this is usually also exempt under Data Protection legislation
• information which is already published by the council or publically available elsewhere, even if there is a fee for obtaining it
• where your request is too vague or broad, so that it would take an unreasonable amount of time and resource for the council to answer it. In this case, we will contact you to ask you to be more specific or to narrow the request to ask for less information
• if it will cost us more than £600 to find and provide the information.

If we refuse to supply information to you, we must explain why, quoting one of the exemptions (FOISA) or exceptions (EIRs).

A full list of exemptions and exceptions is available on the Scottish Information Commissioners Office website:

FOISA Exemptions

EIRs Exceptions

If you are unhappy with our decision or how we have dealt with your request, you can ask us to review this.

 If you are still not happy you can appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner.